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HOW  TO  JUDGE 

AN 

ADVERTISING  AGENCY 


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POINTS      ON      MERCHANDISING      ADVERTISED 
PRODUCTS    THROUGH    DEPARTMENT    STORES 

This  booklet,  published  by  the  J.  H.  Cross 
Company,  and  representative  of  its  research 
work  in  the  department  store  field,  has  been 
highly  praised  by  such  stores  as  Marshall 
Field  &  Company;  Wm.  Filene's  Sons  Com- 
pany; Strawbridge  &  Clothier;  Abraham 
&  Straus  and  others.  Many  of  the  lead- 
ing national  advertisers  have  commended 
it  very  highly. 


MERCHANDISING     ADVERTISED     PRODUCTS 
THROUGH   DRUG   STORES 

A  similar  booklet,  which  deals  with  the 
merchandising  of  products  salable  through 
the  drug  jobber  and  drug  store.  Leading 
jobbers,  representative  retailers  and  some 
prominent  advertisers  of  drug  products  tes- 
tify to  its  exceptional  worth.  It  presents 
a  clear  and  terse  picture  of  the  present 
status  of  merchandising  in  the  field  dealt 
with. 

Copies  of  either  or  both  of  the  above 
mentioned  books  will  be  supplied  without 
charge  to  business  men  who  are  interested 
in  them.  Write  to  the  J.  H.  Cross  Com- 
pany, 214  South  Twelfth  Street,  Phila- 
delphia,  Pa. 


HOW  TO  JUDGE 

AN 

ADVERTISING  AGENCY 

a 


H.  CROSS   COMPANY 

General  Advertising  Agency 

214  SOUTH  TWELFTH  STREET 

PHILADELPHIA 


COPYRIGHT  •  1920  •  BY  J.  H.  CROSS  CO. 
[2] 


HOW  TO  JUDGE 

AN 

ADVERTISING  AGENCY 

The  President  of  a  firm  which 
spends  several  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars  a  year  for  adver- 
tising, which  we  prepare  and  place, 
said  recently,  at  the  end  of  a  con- 
ference upon  one  of  his  products: 
"I  used  to  think  that  all  this  talk 
handed  out  by  advertising  agency 
representatives  was  bunk, — and  a 
lot  of  it  is,  because  I  have  placed 
business  through  two  other  adver- 
tising agents  and  I  have  tried  plac- 
ing it  direct,  but  I  never  made 
much  progress  until  I  employed 
the  J.  H.  Cross  Company  six  years 
ago.  I  feel  now  that  I  could  have 
saved  a  good  deal  of  money,  be- 
sides having  my  business  further 

[3] 


along  if  I  had  met  you  five  years 
sooner.  In  the  interest  of  good 
advertising  there  should  be  some 
way  whereby  a  business  man  can 
cheek  up  advertising  agents  and 
determine  with  greater  accuracy 
the  one  best  adapted  to  serving 
him." 

We  told  him  that  there  are  a 
great  many  advertising  agents  in 
this  country,  many  of  whom  are 
trying  earnestly  to  serve  their  cU- 
ents  efficiently,  but  that  since  ad- 
vertising agency  service  has  devel- 
oped into  such  a  many-sided,  com- 
plex work,  it  is  difficult  to  get  just 
the  right  combination  of  ability  to 
make  an  efficient  organization.  We 
discussed  the  matter  for  some  time, 
during  which  we  gave  this  client 
much  information  regarding  adver- 
tising agencies,  and  he  finally  in- 
sisted that  if  we  would  publish  just 
what  we  had  told  him,  it  would  be 
[4] 


of  great  assistance  to  many  manu- 
facturers. This  booklet  is  the  re- 
sult. 

WHAT    IS 
ADVERTISING    AGENCY    SERVICE? 

Many  times  we  are  asked  this 
question  by  business  men  who  have 
not  watched  closely,  nor  experi- 
enced at  first  hand,  the  service  of 
a  modern  advertising  agency.  Our 
answer  necessarily  must  be  an 
analysis  of  w^hat  should  he  the 
functions  of  every  advertising 
agency — and  of  what  are  the  func- 
tions of  the  J.  H.  Cross  Company. 

Thirty  or  forty  years  ago  the 
advertising  agent  was  little  more 
than  a  space  broker.  He  placed 
and  sometimes  wrote  the  copy,  but 
he  contributed  nothing  to  selling 
strategy.  Even  today  some  agen- 
cies still  pursue  this  elementary 
method. 

As  advertising  developed,  agen- 

[5] 


cies  found  that  their  standing  was 
bettered  by  abihty  to  make  the 
space  they  handled  more  produc- 
tive. 

As  merchandising,  and  its  logi- 
cal employment  of  advertising,  has 
become  more  and  more  complex, 
the  leading  advertising  agents  have 
developed  distinct  services  which 
are  not  obtainable  from  any  other 
source  available  to  the  average 
manufacturer  intent  upon  a  single 
product  or  line  of  products. 

In  brief,  the  competent  adver- 
tising agent  of  today  must  possess 
sales  generalship.  As  the  skilled 
physician  keeps  pace  with  medical 
progress,  so  the  advertising  agent 
must  keep  pace  with  the  art  of  sell- 
ing. As  the  physician  deals  with 
each  case  in  the  light  of  his  own  and 
other  physicians'  experience  with 
hundreds  of  other  cases,  so  the  com- 
petent advertising  agent  gives  each 
[6] 


client  the  benefit  of  his  own  and 
his  acquired  knowledge  drawn 
from  the  whole  wide  field  of  sell- 
ing. By  an  accident  of  phraseol- 
ogy his  name  is  linked  entirely  with 
advertising,  but  his  function  ex- 
tends far  beyond  the  mere  prep- 
aration of  the  "copy"  which  event- 
ually reaches  the  public,  and  ends 
only  with  the  accomplishment  of  a 
definite  sales  purpose.  Were  all 
space-carrying  pubhcations  and 
other  advertising  media  abolished, 
the  advertising  agent's  function  of 
advising  regarding  sales  would 
remain. 

LIMITATIONS    OF 
ADVERTISING    AGENCY    SERVICE 

There  is  no  magic  about  adver- 
tising agency  service.  Few  adver- 
tising agents  know,  or  ever  can 
learn,  the  individual  business  of  a 
client  as  well  as  the  client  himself 
knows  it. 

[7] 


On  the  other  hand,  few  manufac- 
turers can  have  the  agency's  first- 
hand contact  with  hundreds  of  dif- 
ferent selling  methods,  or  develop 
the  agency's  corresponding  breadth 
of  vision.  The  very  intensity  of 
a  manufacturer's  specialization 
leaves  him  too  little  time  to  study 
and  profit  by  the  successful  meth- 
ods of  other  manufacturers.  If 
positions  were  reversed,  this  broad, 
general  knowledge  of  the  adver- 
tising agent  would  be  out  of  place. 
The  manufacturer  needs  his  in- 
tensive specialization  to  further  his 
business.  The  advertising  agent 
needs  his  broad,  general  knowledge 
of  selling.  The  joint  efforts  of  a 
competent  manufacturer  and  an 
equally  competent  advertising 
agent  accomplish  the  purpose  of 
combining  a  high  degree  of  spe- 
ciaUzation  in  the  manufacturer's 
chosen  field  with  a  broad  under- 
[8] 


standing  of  the  most  modern  sell- 
ing methods. 

FUNDAMENTALS    OF 
ADVERTISING     AGENCY     SERVICE 

Let  us  now  attempt  to  describe 
the  service  a  capable  advertising 
agent  will  render  to  a  typical 
client : 

1,  He  will  add  thorough  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  selling  methods 
and  markets  to  his  client's  specific 
knowledge  of  his  individual  market 
and  product. 

2,  He  will  recognize  when  data 
at  hand  are  insufficient  for  basing 
accurate  conclusions,  and  will 
know  how  to  supplement  these 
data  by  original  investigations  and 
trade  research  among  dealers  or 
consumer^, 

3,  He  will  recommend  suitable 
means  of  securing  distribution,  of 
handling    salesmen,    of    winning 

[9] 


dealers'  co-operation,  of  coimter- 
acting  or  stopping  unfair  compe- 
tition, of  stabilizing  and  broaden- 
ing consurner  demand,  of  condens- 
ing unwieldy  lines,  of  improving 
packages,  etc. 

4.  He  will  know,  or  know  how 
to  find  out,  whether  the  time,  the 
season,  the  market  conditions,  the 
dealers'  attitude,  all  are  favorable 
for  the  start  of  an  advertising  cam- 
paign, 

5.  He  will  suggest  new  markets, 
new  uses  of  the  product  by  con- 
sumers, and  new  products  and 
ways  of  merchandising  them,  if 
such  changes  are  necessary, 

6.  He  will  know  with  great  eoc- 
actness  the  merits  of  various  media 
in  relation  to  a  given  product;  the 
value  of  various  styles  of  copy, 
characters  of  art  work,  sizes  of 
gpace,  and  lines  of  reasoning. 

7.  He  will  know  the  proper  cost 

[10] 


of  the  most  suitable  art  work,  the 
plates  and  all  other  material  en- 
tering into  the  preparation  of  ad- 
vertising copy, 

8.  He  will  know  the  lowest  pos- 
sible cost  of  space  in  magazines, 
newspapers,  billboards,  car  cards, 
trade-papers,  or  whatever  media 
are  to  be  used  for  the  campaign. 
He  will  be  in  a  position  to  buy  this 
space  at  as  favorable  prices  as  any- 
one can  obtain, 

9,  He  will  prepare  in  his  own 
organization  a  complete  recom- 
mendation as  to  advertising  media 
to  be  used,  together  with  illustra- 
tions, copy,  plates,  and  finally,  fin- 
ished advertisements,  including 
catalogs,  trade  literature,  and 
other  printed  matter  incidental  to 
the  most  effective  use  of  the  adver- 
ti£ng  by  the  manufacturer's  sales 
organization, 

[11] 


10,  He  will  forward  copy  to  the 
media  selected  and  after  its  ap- 
pearance will  ''check"  the  maga- 
zines, newspapers,  and  trade  pub- 
lications, seeing  that  the  space  paid 
for  i^  delivered,  that  the  advertise- 
ments are  inserted  in  schedule 
order,  that  they  are  given  good 
position  in  the  publication  and 
that  they  are  well  printed. 

11,  He  will  render  to  his  client 
carefully  itemized  monthly  hills, 
showing  exactly  what  moneys  have 
been  expended. 

Any  advertising  agency  that 
falls  short  of  this  service  is  not  a 
modern  agency,  and  is  not  deliver- 
ing the  type  of  service  which  is 
most  successful  today.  Any  manu- 
facturer who  pays  an  advertising 
agency  for  service  which  does  not 
comprehend  all  of  the  fundamen- 
tals here  outlined  is  paying  for 
more  than  he  gets. 

[12] 


ADVERTISING     AGENCY    SERVICE 
IS   PERSONAL 

Like  the  practice  of  medicine, 
advertising  agency  service  is  per- 
sonal. An  advertising  agent  must 
have  learned  his  business  by  years 
of  experience  in  advertising,  else 
he  gets  his  knowledge  at  the  ex- 
pense of  his  clients.  He  must  be 
able  to  reason  correctly  from  par- 
ticular *cases  to  a  principle,  and 
from  the  principle  to  another  case. 
He  must  know  his  limitations,  as 
expressed  in  terms  of  his  own  ex- 
perience and  that  of  his  organiza- 
tion, and  forbear  to  seek  business 
which  he  cannot  handle  to  the  ad- 
vertiser's best  interest. 

Although  personal  thought,  ef- 
fort and  contact  play  an  enor- 
mously important  part  in  really 
efficient  advertising  agency  serv- 
ice, it  is,  nevertheless,  true  that 
organization  is  almost  equally  im- 
[13] 


portant.  The  advertising  agent 
who  attempts  to  combine  in  his  own 
person  all  of  the  ramifications  of 
modern  agency  service  is  as  ineffi- 
cient and  as  undesirable  from  the 
manufacturer's  viewpoint  as  the 
agent  who,  because  of  his  own  lack 
of  experience,  attempts  merely  to 
operate  an  advertising  agency  on 
a  cut-and-dried  plan  by  hiring  oth- 
ers to  do  all  the  work. 

At  the  head  of  every  advertis- 
ing agency  that  gives  modern 
service  in  this  country  will  be 
found  a  man  of  ripe  business  ex- 
perience, supplemented  by  thor- 
ough general  knowledge  of  the 
best  advertising  agency  practice 
and  organization.  Such  a  man  has 
the  knowledge  to  select  and  the 
power  to  attract  men  whose  indi- 
vidual experience  will  reinforce  his 
own. 

[  14  ] 


WHEN    ADVERTISING   AGENCY    SERVICE 
WILL   BE   MOST   EFFECTIVE 

1,  Whe7i  the  agency  possesses 
the  entire  confidence  of  the  adver- 
tiser. 

2,  When  the  agency  organiza- 
tion is  large  enough  to  maintain 
highly  sj^ecialized  copy,  art  and 
mechanical  departments, 

3,  When  it  is  so  old  in  experi- 
ence as  to  have  accumulated  much 
knowledge  as  to  the  relative  values 
of  media,  sizes  of  space,  art  and 
copy  treatments,  cost  of  covering 
markets,  etc, 

4,  When  its  inemhers,  in  addi- 
tion to  a  high  degree  of  specializa- 
tion in  their  individual  functions 
within  the  agency  organization, 
have  also  accumulated  selling 
knowledge  covering  widely  diver- 
sified lines, 

5,  When  the  agency  is  not  too 
much  occupied  with  large  accounts 

[15] 


to  give  plenty  of  time  and  study 
to  a  new^  smaller  account, 

6,  When  the  agency,  as  judged 
by  any  one  of  its  individual  mem- 
bers or  by  its  membership  as  a 
whole,  measured  up  to  the  best 
standards  of  American  business, 

7,  When  the  agency  has  the 
financial  stability  to  command  the 
full  respect  of  publications  and 
other  media  with  which  it  is  author- 
ized to  do  business, 

8,  When  the  total  volume  of 
business  of  the  agency  and  its  rela- 
tions with  clients  are  so  thoroughly 
developed  that  the  agency  has  com- 
plete freedom  from  domination  by 
space  sellers, 

9,  When  the  agency  hag  in  its 
copy,  art  and  service  departments 
men  who  have  made  special  study 
of  an  advertiser's  particular  field. 

With  reference  to  the  last  para- 
graph, however,  please  note  that 

[16] 


the  handling  of  directly  competi- 
tive accounts  is  not  to  be  recom- 
mended, no  matter  what  the  suc- 
cess of  the  agency  in  a  given  field 
may  be. 

THE  ADVERTISING  AGENCY 
OF    BIASED    JUDGMENT 

Any  man  can  hang  out  a  shingle 
and  call  himself  an  advertising 
agent.  There  are  probably  about 
2,000  so-called  "advertising 
agents"  of  all  classes  in  the  United 
States;  an  advertising  directory 
hsts  1,161  advertising  agents  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada  in  1919. 
In  1918  the  same  directory  listed 
1,144;  of  these,  91  went  out  of 
business  during  1919  and  108  new 
agencies  entered  the  field.  The 
figures  of  mortality  alone  will 
prove  to  any  common-sense  busi- 
ness man  the  irresponsibility  of 
some  so-called  "advertising 
[17] 


agents,"  as  well  as  their  justly 
slight  claim  upon  his  attention. 

Of  t  h  e  1,161  "advertising 
agents"  now  in  business,  the  Amer- 
ican Newspaper  Publishers'  Asso- 
ciation (which  is  the  official  news- 
paper publishers'  organization  for 
the  administering  of  business  with 
advertising  agents)  recognizes 
only  363. 

About  the  same  number  of  ad- 
vertising agents  are  recognized  by 
the  Periodical  Publishers'  Associa- 
tion, but  the  agents  recognized  by 
the  American  Newspaper  Publish- 
ers' Association  are  not  necessarily 
recognized  by  the  Periodical  Pub- 
lishers' Association,  and  vice  versa. 

Still  further  reduction  in  the 
number  of  advertising  agents  of 
the  highest  standing  is  made  by 
the  membership  extended  by  the 
American  Association  of  Adver- 
tising Agencies,  which  in  January, 

[18] 


1919,   included   only   117   leading 
agents. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the 
number  of  advertising  agents  who 
are  really  equipped  so  as  to  be 
entirely  free  from  bias  in  one 
direction  or  another  is  quite  small. 
For  instance,  only  agents  who  are 
members  of  a  subsidiary  organiza- 
tion of  the  American  Association 
of  Advertising  Agencies  are  able 
to  handle  billboard  and  painted 
sign  advertising  so  as  to  obtain  the 
best  possible  prices  for  their  clients. 
Other  agencies  are  able  to  buy 
such  space  only  at  higher  rates,  ac- 
counted for  by  smaller  commis- 
sions. Many  agencies  are  wholly 
unable  to  do  business  with  the  in- 
terests controlling  the  outdoor  ad- 
vertising of  the  United  States. 
Similarly,  some  advertising  agen- 
cies are  recognized  by  newspapers, 
but  are  not  recognized  by  maga- 

[19] 


zines;  others  are  recognized  by 
some  magazines,  but  not  by  others, 
and  so  on. 

The  advertiser  who  does  busi- 
ness with  an  agency  equipped  to 
handle  only  newspaper  business, 
magazine  business,  or  only  a  part 
of  either,  obviously  accepts  either 
biased  advice  or  complete  lack  of 
knowledge  concerning  some  classes 
of  media  by  which  the  agency  is 
unrecognized  and  with  which  it  has 
transacted  no  business.  One  of  the 
banes  of  the  whole  advertising 
agency  business  is  the  tendency  of 
uninformed  advertisers  to  place  on 
the  same  plane  all  those  who  call 
themselves  "advertising  agents," 
only  a  comparatively  small  num- 
ber of  whom  are  really  in  a  posi- 
tion to  deliver  the  service  which 
they  claim  to  be  able  to  render. 

The  J.  H.  Cross  Company  is  a 
fully-recognized,  national  adverti^- 

[20] 


ing  agency  which,  for  more  than 
sice  years,  has  been  doing  a  large 
volume  of  business  with  all  the 
leading  advertising  media. 

We  are  recognized  by  the  Peri- 
odical Publishers'  Association  and 
by  the  Curtis  Publishing  Com- 
pany, the  two  divisions  of  the  mag- 
azine field. 

We  are  recognized  by  the  Amer- 
ican Newspaper  Publishers'"  Asso- 
ciation, which  is  the  national  or- 
ganization of  newspapers. 

We  are  recognized  by  the  Agri- 
cultural Publishers"  Association — 
the  organization  of  farm  paper 
publishers. 

We  are  members  of  the  Ameri- 
can Association  of  Advertising 
Agencies. 

We  are  members  of  the  Audit 
Bureau  of  Circulation, 

We  are  members  of  the  National 
Outdoor  Advertising  Bureau, 

[21] 


through  which  we  are  enabled  to 
handle  painted  sign  and  billboard 
advertising  all  over  the  United 
States. 

There  is  no  form  of  recognition 
which  the  J.  H.  Cross  Company 
lacks ;  therefore,  we  may  claim  with 
entire  justice  that  we  are  free  from 
any  necessity  for  bias  in  favor  of 
one  form  of  publicity  as  contrasted 
with  another,  and  are  in  a  position 
to  advise  regarding  advertising 
media  with  only  the  advertiser's 
best  interest  in  mind. 

Advertisers  should  invariably 
question  all  advertising  agents  who 
solicit  their  attention  as  to  the  com- 
pleteness of  recognition.  The  ad- 
vertising agent  who  lacks  recogni- 
tion by  any  one  of  the  great  organ- 
izations enumerated  above  should 
instantly  be  eliminated  on  the  just 
ground  that  his  judgment  cannot 
be  free  from  bias   toward   those 

[22] 


forms  of  advertising  by  which  he 
is  recognized. 

Perhaps  the  best  general  guar- 
antee of  an  advertising  agency's 
worth  is  membership  in  the  Ameri- 
can Association  of  Advertising 
Agencies.  Such  membership  im- 
phes  not  only  reasonable  financial 
strength,  dependable  business  prin- 
ciples, willingness  to  live  up  to 
high  standards  of  service  and  pos- 
session of  sufficient  organization  to 
serve  a  broad  advertising  field,  but 
also,  in  practically  all  cases,  insures 
the  possession  of  the  other  forms  of 
recognition  outlined  above. 

THE  READY-MADE  PLAN  AGENCY 

Some  advertising  agents  seem  to 
be  cursed  with  a  feeling  that  they 
have  nothing  left  to  learn  in  adver- 
tising. The  representative  of  an 
agency  of  this  type  feels  entirely 
justified  in  glibly  outlining  an  ad- 

[23] 


vertising  plan  or  policy  as  the  re- 
sult of  a  fifteen-minute  interview. 
If  such  quick  work  as  this  is  im- 
possible in  a  given  case,  this  type 
of  agency  will  often  submit  a  writ- 
ten plan,  together  with  complete 
copy,  without  any  further  study  of 
the  advertiser's  problems. 

Since  advertising  plans  and  ac- 
tual advertisements  are  the  visible 
and  tangible  product  of  an  adver- 
tising agent's  service,  it  is  quite 
natural  for  the  average  advertiser 
to  want  some  such  evidence  that  his 
selection  of  a  given  agency  is  cor- 
rect. Nevertheless,  an  advertising 
agency  is  really  in  a  position  to 
submit  a  complete  plan  and  fin- 
ished copy  only  after  detailed 
study  of  the  advertiser's  individual 
business.  General  knowledge  of  a 
given  advertiser's  industry  is  not 
sufficient;  the  individual  adver- 
tiser's position  in  his  industry  must 

[24] 


be  known,  together  with  confiden- 
tial facts  relating  to  the  progress 
of  the  business — such  facts  as  few 
business  men  are  disposed  to  give 
out  broadcast. 

Our  position,  therefore,  is  that 
no  advertising  agency  is  ever  in  a 
position  to  submit  concrete  recom- 
mendations and  finished  copy  until 
it  is  in  possession  of  all  the  confi- 
dential facts  about  the  advertiser's 
business  which  have  bearing  upon 
the  situation;  until  it  has  made 
whatever  trade  or  consumer  inves- 
tigations are  necessary  (and  these 
sometimes  cost  considerable  sums)  ; 
and  until  it  has  established  a  com- 
plete basis  of  confidence  with  the 
advertiser,  comparable  with  the  re- 
lationship existing  between  a  client 
and  his  attorney. 

The  glib,  ready  -  made  -  plan 
agency  is  unreliable  and  unsafe. 
If  by  good  luck  it  makes  a  few 

[25] 


successes,  its  trail  is,  nevertheless, 
strewn  with  costly  failures. 

We  are  always  ready  to  submit 
evidence  as  to  the  fitness  of  our 
service  to  any  advertiser  who  will 
accept  a  confidential  relationship 
with  us  as  a  preliminary  requisite, 
and  who  will  then  agree  to  pay  a 
fair  fee  for  the  work  which  a  plan 
and  finished  copy  cost.  Such  an 
arrangement  need  not  make  it  un- 
avoidable that  the  advertiser  place 
his  advertising  with  us  if  he  fails 
to  agree  with  our  findings. 

THE  CUT-RATE  AGENCY 

It  has  been  estimated  by  most 
competent  advertising  agencies 
that,  of  the  15  per  cent  (average) 
of  any  appropriation  allowed  the 
advertising  agent,  it  costs  the  real 
service  agency  about  11  percent  to 
deliver  the  service.  This  leaves  4 
per  cent  as  the  agent's  profit.   This 

[26] 


is  certainly  small  enough,  espe- 
cially when  the  element  of  finan- 
cial risk  is  taken  into  considera- 
tion. 

There  are  other  advertising 
agents,  however,  who  do  not  main- 
tain service  departments  at  all; 
who,  if  they  have  a  so-called  "serv- 
ice department,"  man  it  with  indi- 
viduals of  low  average  ability,  and 
who  often  stay  in  business  only  a 
brief  time,  and  during  their  stay 
accomplish  little  more  than  their 
own  financial  ruin  and  the  demoral- 
ization of  the  advertising  policies 
of  the  advertisers  whose  business 
they  handle.  These  advertising 
agencies  frequently  offer  cut  rates. 

To  begin  with,  the  offering  of  a 
cut  in  rate  is  a  dishonest  procedure 
which  is  absolutely  contrary  to  the 
agreement  which  every  advertis- 
ing agent  makes  with  advertising 
media.  The  advertising  agent  who 
[27] 


offers  a  cut  rate  breaks  his  word 
with  the  pubhshers.  Assuredly  it 
is  quite  difficult  to  believe  that, 
having  broken  an  agreement  with 
one  set  of  business  interests,  he 
will  keep  it  with  another — the  ad- 
vertiser. 

In  the  second  place,  it  has  been 
demonstrated  that  a  competent  ad- 
vertising agency  cannot  be  main- 
tained on  a  lower  rate  of  commis- 
sion than  an  average  15  per  cent. 
The  advertiser  who  appreciates  the 
value  of  doing  business  year  after 
year  with  the  same  advertising 
agency,  in  order  that  his  advertis- 
ing advisers  may  grow  up  together 
with  his  business,  never  pays  any 
attention  to  an  offer  of  a  cut  in 
rate. 

The  advertising  agency  which 
offers  a  cut  in  rate,  or  consents  to 
such  an  arrangement,  simply  real- 
[28] 


izes  that  its  service  is  inferior  and 
not  worth  the  right  price. 

THE    SPELLBINDING    AGENCY 

It  sometimes  happens  that  the 
promise  department  of  an  adver- 
tising agency  is  about  three- 
fourths  of  the  agency's  entire  per- 
sonnel, and,  consequently,  the  pro- 
duction and  performance  depart- 
ments find  themselves  confronted 
with  impossible  tasks. 

One  example  of  this  type  of  ad- 
vertising agent  is  the  man  who, 
having  worked  on  the  classified 
columns  of  a  newspaper,  feels  that 
he  has  learned  all  there  is  to  be 
learned  about  advertising;  he, 
therefore,  calls  himself  an  adver- 
tising agent  and,  in  one  way  or 
another,  persuades  the  unwary  to 
entrust  him  with  their  business. 
This  type  of  advertising  agent  de- 
stroys the  confidence  of  advertis- 

[29] 


ers,  and  does  the  whole  advertising 
agency  business  a  great  injustice. 

Another  type  of  the  spellbind- 
ing agency  is  the  one  which  em- 
ploys "solicitors"  as  distinguished 
from  "service  men."  "Solicitors," 
as  the  term  is  commonly  used  by 
advertising  men,  are  salesmen  em- 
ployed exclusively  for  the  purpose 
of  selling  an  advertising  agency's 
service  to  advertisers.  They  as- 
sume no  responsibility  for  the  suc- 
cess or  failure  of  a  campaign ;  they 
are  in  a  position  to  promise  any- 
thing that  will  land  an  order;  they 
have,  as  a  rule,  no  constructive 
knowledge  of  advertising. 

The  men  who  represent  this 
agency  in  preliminary  negotiations 
are  the  same  men  who  represent  it 
after  relationship  is  established 
with  an  advertiser.  Each  account 
we  handle  is  under  the  general  di- 
rection of  a  single  individual,  or 
[30] 


"service  man,"  who  has  at  his  com- 
mand all  the  resources  of  our  or- 
ganization. Our  service  men  are 
selected  for  their  all-'round  com- 
petence as  advertising  men.  They 
are  assigned  to  accounts  in  accord- 
ance with  their  special  fitness  to 
handle  a  given  type  of  business 
with  the  greatest  success. 

Sometimes  the  spellbinding  de- 
partment of  an  agency  is  plausible 
enough  to  explain  away  tempo- 
rarily the  lack  of  success,  but  in 
most  cases  connection  with  this 
type  of  advertising  agency  is  thor- 
oughly unsatisfactory  to  the  adver- 
tiser. Pay  no  attention  to  the  rec- 
ommendations of  the  man  who  is 
an  out-and-out  "solicitor"  for  his 
agency.  The  chances  are  about 
nine  to  one  against  his  having  had 
any  real  advertising  experience. 
On  the  other  hand,  do  not  expect 
such  glowing  promises  of  achieve- 

[31] 


ment  from  the  man  who  represents 
an  advertising  agency  where  his 
own  abihty  must  play  a  large  part 
in  making  a  success.  He  knows 
the  limitations  of  advertising;  he 
generally  is  not  a  "star"  salesman; 
he  has  a  conscience,  and  so  has  his 
agency. 

THE    "PUT-IT-OVER"   ADVERTISING   AGENCY 

This  type  of  advertising  agency 
often  is  the  employer  of  the  simon- 
pure  agency  "solicitor."  It  is  by 
no  means  so  careful  in  the  expendi- 
ture of  its  clients'  money  as  it 
would  be  of  its  own.  It  frequently 
rushes  into  general  advertising  the 
client  who  should  spend  months  or 
even  years  in  preparatory  advertis- 
ing through  trade  or  technical  pub- 
lications; it  makes  no  really  sound 
investigations  of  trade  conditions; 
it  is  interested  only  in  one  thing — 
collecting  commissions  from  space 
used. 

[32] 


j 


A  carefully  worked  out  plan  of 
advertising  at  a  cost  of  only  a  few 
thousand  dollars,  properly  mer- 
chandised, has  been  known  to  ac- 
complish a  great  deal  more  for  the 
advertiser  than  another  campaign 
costing  two  or  three  times  as  much. 
The  plan  decides  the  appropriation 
quite  as  much  as  the  appropriation 
affects  the  plan. 

Every  recommendation  coming 
from  the  J.  H.  Cross  Company  as 
to  the  expenditure  of  money  in 
advertising  has  the  sanction  of  the 
heads  of  the  agency.  This  sanction 
is  based  upon  our  conviction  that 
the  advertiser  is  in  a  position  to 
realize  upon  the  sales  powder 
generated.  Such  conclusions  are 
reached  not  only  through  careful 
discussion  with  the  advertiser,  but 
also  through  the  w^ork  of  our  Re- 
search Department.  This  depart- 
ment is  equipped  to  deliver  infor- 
[33] 


mation  as  to  the  condition  of  mar- 
kets, the  extent  and  activity  of 
competition,  the  value  of  the  prod- 
uct as  contrasted  with  competing 
products,  the  attitude  of  the  trade 
and  many  other  vital  factors  en- 
tering into  the  success  of  an  adver- 
tising campaign. 

A  great  many  advertising 
agencies  make  no  attempt  to  main- 
tain research  departments.  Others 
which  do  make  such  work  a  part 
of  their  business  camouflage  it  a 
good  deal.  Our  Research  Depart- 
ment is  thoroughly  practical  and 
not  at  all  pompous.  We  have  no 
way  of  forecasting  the  future  by 
cutting  the  commercial  cards  or 
otherwise  performing  magic. 
Nevertheless,  we  can  tell  any  ad- 
vertiser the  general  conditions  in 
his  field,  and  for  our  clients  we 
keep  close  touch  with  the  progress 
of    their    advertising    campaigns, 

[34] 


even  to  the  point  of  sending  our 
own  men  out  to  travel  with  their 
salesmen,  making  intensive  local 
investigations  of  market  condi- 
tions. 

One  great  difference  between 
the  kind  of  Research  Department 
we  maintain  and  some  others  is 
that  we  are  not  dependent  upon 
figures  supplied  by  publishers. 
While  we  do  utilize  such  figures  to 
some  extent,  we  also  check  for  our- 
selves the  advertising  expenditures 
of  competitors,  and  we  subscribe 
to  a  great  many  of  the  statistical 
services  from  which  the  publishers 
themselves  obtain  their  informa- 
tion. 

THE    "GOOD   FELLOW"   AGENCY 

Many  advertisers,  unaware  of 
the  real  importance  of  the  right 
agency  connection,  regard  all  ad- 
vertising agents  alike.  Knowing 
one  whom  they  consider  a  "good 

[35] 


fellow,"  they  give  him  their  ac- 
counts, feeling  that  "we  might  as 
well  let  him  make  the  commission." 
Only  the  advertiser  who  does  not 
yet  understand  the  tremendous 
value  of  competent  advertising 
agency  service  can  possibly  enter- 
tain this  view.  In  most  cases,  se- 
lecting an  advertising  agent  on  the 
sole  basis  of  personal  liking  is  sev- 
eral times  as  dangerous  as  loaning 
a  man  money  because  he  can  tell  a 
good  "Ford"  story.  No  good  busi- 
ness man  selects  his  attorney 
purely  on  a  basis  of  personal  lik- 
ing; nor  should  he  so  select  his  ad- 
vertising agent. 

The  older  an  advertiser  becomes, 
the  more  carefully  he  scrutinizes 
advertising  agencies  before  select- 
ing one  to  serve  him. 

THE   ONE-MAN  AGENCY 

A  leading  publisher  recently  said 
[36] 


that  no  one  man  is  sufficiently  ver- 
satile to  render  satisfactory  agency 
service. 

No  single  individual  can  be  at 
once  the  best  sales  adviser,  the 
wisest  plan  maker,  the  shrewdest 
space  buyer,  the  most  convincing 
copy  writer,  the  most  accurate 
bookkeeper  and  the  most  painstak- 
ing administrator  of  details.  Hu- 
man ability  is  not  so  arranged. 

The  kindest  judgment  of  the 
one-man  advertising  agency  is  sim- 
ply that  it  is  most  frequently  con- 
ducted by  an  ambitious  but  unin- 
formed man  whose  business  acumen 
is  impeached  by  the  very  fact  that 
he  elects  so  to  conduct  his  business. 

THE    LOP-SIDED    AGENCY 

Sometimes  an  advertising  agen- 
cy has  in  its  organization  one  man 
of  exceptional  skill  in  making 
plans,    writing   copy    or    devising 

[37] 


illustrations,  and  no  other  individ- 
uals whose  competence  is  estab- 
lished. Such  an  agency  obviously 
is  lop-sided.  Copy,  art  and  plans, 
all  are  important,  but  no  single  one 
of  these  essentials  to  successful  ad- 
vertising will  function  efficiently 
without  equal  merit  in  the  other 
two.  The  well-balanced  advertis- 
ing agency  must  be  able  to  show 
absolute  dependability  in  all  the 
phases  of  its  service;  unusual  abil- 
ity in  any  single  direction  is  no 
guarantee  of  the  proper  perform- 
ance of  other  duties. 

The  J.  H.  Cross  Company  is 
well  balanced.  In  copy,  in  art,  in 
space  buying,  in  plan  making,  in 
following  details,  it  employs  men 
whose  experience  covers  many 
years.  It  neither  emphasizes  one 
of  these  important  functions  of 
advertising  agency  service  to  the 
detriment    of   the    others,    nor 

[38] 


achieves    merely    a    low    service 
standard  in  all  departments. 

THE    BIG    AGENCY 

Advertising  agency  service  is 
semi-professional,  and  is,  therefore, 
a  somewhat  personal  service.  The 
sense  of  personal  responsibility, 
which  ought  to  be  felt  in  advising 
as  to  the  investment  of  large  sums 
of  money,  is  largely  lost  when  an 
agency  becomes  so  very  large  in 
number  of  clients  that  the  princi- 
pals in  the  agency  are  not  in  touch 
with  each  and  every  account  han- 
dled. 

It  is  also  as  natural  as  the  love 
of  gain  that  clients  who  are  spend- 
ing the  largest  appropriations  are 
the  only  ones  to  receive  the  earnest 
attention  of  the  best  brains  of  the 
very  large  advertising  agency.  An 
appropriation  of  $50,000  is  not 
large,  as  advertising  appropria- 
[39] 


tions  go,  but  it  generally  means  as 
much  to  the  advertiser  as  a  half- 
million  dollar  appropriation  means 
to  some  other  firm.  Suppose  two 
such  accounts  are  served  by  one 
very  large  advertising  agency,  and 
both  require  quick  and  careful  con- 
sideration at  the  same  time,  what 
chance  has  the  smaller  advertiser? 
It  is  our  fixed  belief  that  it  is  no 
more  possible  for  an  advertising 
agency  to  increase  its  total  number 
of  clients  indefinitely  than  for  a 
famous  surgeon  to  operate  upon  all 
the  cases  in  his  field  of  specializa- 
tion occurring  in  a  given  city.  The 
mere  fact  that  the  best  advertising 
agency  service  involves  a  great  deal 
of  personal  attention  on  the  part  of 
the  agency  heads,  automatically 
imposes  the  same  sort  of  time  limi- 
tation as  is  imposed  upon  a  lawyer, 
a  doctor  or  a  dentist.  Granting  the 
fact  that  the  limitation  is  not  quite 

[40] 


so  definite  as  in  the  eases  of  these 
strictly  professional  men,  it  exists, 
nevertheless,  in  some  measure  for 
the  advertising  agent.  It  is  signifi- 
cant that  during  the  past  year  at 
least  two  very  large  advertising 
agencies  suffered  the  loss  of  a  great 
deal  of  important  business — busi- 
ness which  went  into  the  hands  of 
much  smaller  advertising  agencies 
capable  of  giving  it  much  closer 
attention.  Practically  all  the  very 
large  agencies  (that  is,  large  as  to 
number  of  clients)  lose  more 
accounts  in  proportion  to  their 
total  volume  of  business  than  the 
medium-sized  agencies. 

The  business  of  the  J.  H.  Cross 
Company,  while  already  consider- 
able, is  as  yet  small  as  compared 
with  the  business  volume  or  num- 
ber of  clients  of  any  one  of  perhaps 
twenty  advertising  agents  in  the 
United  States.    No  account  execu- 

[41] 


tive  in  our  organization  today  has 
the  burden  of  caring  for  such  num- 
bers of  chents  as  each  of  the  ac- 
count executives  in  these  larger 
agencies  must  assume.  And,  fur- 
thermore, it  is  our  fixed  behef  that 
our  own  best  interest  will  be  served 
by  recognizing  our  limitations,  and 
by  lef using  to  extend  cur  list  of 
clients  beyond  the  point  where  the 
four  or  five  leading  members  of 
our  organization  can  give  each 
client  thoroughly  satisfactory  and 
thoughtful  service. 

It  is  the  very  large  advertising 
agency,  too,  which  most  frequently 
injures  itself  and  the  advertising 
agency  business  by  the  employ- 
ment of  the  "star  solicitor,"  who  is 
paid  a  big  salary  simply  to  get 
business,  and  who  does  not  do  a 
single  thing  to  serve  any  client  he 
secures.  Promises  made  by  such 
men,  as  has  been  pointed  out  in  an 

[42] 


earlier  paragraph,  are  made  with- 
out recognition  of  any  personal 
responsibility  for  their  fulfillment. 

WHY   WE  BELIEVE   IN  THE 
MODERATE-SIZED    ADVERTISING    AGENCY 

When  the  J.  H.  Cross  Company 
was  a  small  and  a  very  young  ad- 
vertising agency,  it  recognized  and 
believed  in  the  rightness  of  the 
principle  of  the  moderate-sized  ad- 
vertising agency.  It  secured  its 
present  business,  not  by  misrepre- 
senting its  condition,  but  by  stat- 
ing its  determination  to  grow  to  a 
certain  size  within  a  reasonable 
time. 

Today  it  has  a  total  volume  of 
business,  and  number  of  clients,  of 
about  one-third  its  ultimate  limit. 

We  believe  in,  and  always  have 
believed  in  the  moderate-sized, 
well-balanced  advertising  agency 
with  integrity  beyond  question, 
and  with  business  volume  sufficient 

[43] 


to  warrant  the  employment  of  re- 
cognized experts  in  its  leading 
departments.  We  think  that 
such  an  advertising  agency  is  in  a 
position  to  render  ideal  service  to 
the  average  general  advertiser 
spending  from  $10,000  to  $500,- 
000,  because: 

1,  The  agency's  personnel  pre- 
sents the  required  grade  of 
executive, 

2,  It  renders  really  personal 
service, 

3,  It  is  sufficiently  fleooible  to 
make  possible  a  conference  of  its 
leading  men  at  ghort  notice, 

4,  It  is  free  from  the  domination 
of  a  few  very  large  accounts, 

5,  It  does  not  allow  any  one 
phase  of  agency  service  to  over- 
shadow other  equally  important 
phases,  even  though  an  account 
may  originally  have  been  attracted 

[44] 


to  the  agency  hy  reason  of  eoccel- 
lence  in  a  certain  phase. 

6,  It  does  not  promise  the  impos- 
sible, because  it  has  no  intention  of 
expanding  itsf  list  of  clients  indefi- 
nitely, and  therefore  wishes  to  add 
only  those  clients  who  promise  to 
become  real  advertisers, 

7,  It  is  carefully  departmental 
ized  so  as  to  insure  efficient  work, 
and  yet  is  not  overloaded  with  red 
tape. 

8,  It  is  large  enough  to  keep 
itself  aloof  from  fads  and  ismsl  and 
other  whims  that  may  happen 
temporarily  to  loom  up  big  on  the 
advertising  horizon, 

9,  Having  a  self-imposed  limit 
upon  the  number  of  clients  it  can 
serve,  it  is  dependent  for  growth 
upon  making  advertising  more  and 
more  profitable  to  the  clients  it 
accepts, 

[45] 


10,  It  recognizes  the  fact  that 
more  successes  are  developed  by 
hardy  conscientious  work  than  by  a 
happy  inspiration  on  copy. 

The  J.  H.  Cross  Company  can 
answer  every  one  of  the  qualifica- 
tions given  above  to  the  thorough 
satisfaction  of  any  advertiser  who 
may  be  interested  in  its  service. 
There  are  eight  men  in  our  organ- 
ization, who  individually  and  col- 
lectively, are  responsible  for  the 
creative  work  of  the  agency;  each 
one  of  these  men  has  spent  from 
five  to  sixteen  years  in  really 
important  creative  work  in  adver- 
tising; each  one  has  been  selected 
because  his  record  in  a  given  phase 
of  the  work  is  more  than  usually 
impressive. 

We  regard  the  business  connec- 
tion between  a  client  and  his  adver- 
tising agency  as  confidential. 
Every    worth-while    business    has 

[46] 


more  or  less  information  peculiar 
to  its  line,  which  it  is  only  sane 
business  to  keep  more  or  less  secret. 
We  see  no  more  reason  for  telling 
the  public  about  the  details  of  your 
advertising  than  your  lawyer  would 
have  in  spreading  broadcast  the 
news  of  your  legal  activities. 

We  do  not  take  competing 
accounts  because  we  beheve  that  it 
is  impossible  to  serve  two  competi- 
tors equally  well,  and  maintain 
proper  relations  with  either  one  of 
the  two. 

And,  while  our  business  is  not 
yet  so  large  as  we  wish  it  to  be,  nor 
so  large  as  it  fairly  promises  to  be 
in  the  near  future,  the  quality  of 
our  service  is  as  near  100  per  cent, 
perfect  as  very  thorough  experi- 
ence and  detailed  knowledge  can 
make  it.  A  manufacturer  in  any 
one  of  a  number  of  lines  of  busi- 
ness might  spend  $100,000  before 

[47] 


learning  as  much  about  advertising 
his  product  as  we  could  tell  him 
before  spending  a  single  cent;  and 
our  knowledge  is  at  his  disposal  for 
the  asking. 


WHAT    CLIENTS   SAY 


One  of  our  clients,  who  has  been 
with  us  for  a  comparatively  short 
time,  and  who  is  a  very  successful 
manufacturer,  as  well  as  being  one 
of  the  largest  in  his  line,  while  in 
our  offices  recently,  made  the  state- 
ment that  if  he  were  starting  in 
business  over  again,  the  first  thing 
he  would  do  after  selecting  his 
partners  would  be  to  choose  an 
advertising  agency,  because,  al- 
though he  might  not  have  an 
opportunity  to  advertise  for  some 
time  after  the  connection  was  made, 
yet  he  found  that  the  advertising 
agency  would  save  him  time, 
trouble  and  money  by  advice  as  to 

[48] 


the  best  methods  of  merchandising 
his  hne. 

More  than  85  per  cent  of  our 
present  total  volume  of  business 
has  been  developed  entirely  by  us; 
that  is,  the  firms  contributing  this 
percentage  of  our  total  volume 
were  either  non-advertisers  or 
markedly  unsuccessful  advertisers 
prior  to  their  connection  with  us. 

Although  our  business  has  in- 
creased twelve-fold  in  the  six  years 
we  have  been  in  business,  we  have 
only  three  times  as  many  clients  as 
we  had  six  years  ago.  In  other 
words,  our  business  has  come 
through  making  advertising  profit- 
able to  such  clients  as  came  to  us 
without  much  urging,  rather  than 
by  getting  a  host  of  clients  through 
the  most  intensive  sort  of  solicit- 
ing. Quite  possibly,  a  more  aggres- 
sive policy  of  soliciting  advertisers 
would  have  brought  us  more  busi- 

[49] 


ness.  We  have  been  content  to 
grow  more  or  less  slowly,  feeling 
that  this  is  the  safer  way. 

Occasionally  we  are  compli- 
mented by  our  clients,  and  perhaps 
it  will  not  be  inopportune  to  repro- 
duce here  some  of  the  more  recent 
letters  of  this  kind. 

One  client  writes: 

*'It  may  be  of  interest  to  you  to 
know  that,  since  our  connection 
with  your  company,  we  have  been 
getting  better  returns  for  our 
money  spent  in  advertising  than  we 
have  ever  had  from  any  other 
source.  Your  service  has  also 
saved  us  much  time,  work  and 
worry.  We  have  been  advertising 
for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
during  which  time  we  contracted 
with  the  newspapers  direct  and  also 
through  several  advertising  agen- 


cies." 


Another  client  writes: 

[50] 


"We  are  glad  to  testify  to  the 
careful  attention  which  you  have 
given  our  national  advertising  for 
the  past  five  years.  As  you  know, 
we  have  no  one  in  our  organization 
whose  sole  duty  is  the  superintend- 
ence of  our  advertising,  and  your 
agency  has,  therefore,  combined  in 
a  much  greater  measure  than  is 
usual  the  work  of  both  an  adver- 
tising manager  and  an  agency. 

"We  know  that  there  are  agen- 
cies which  refuse  to  take  accounts 
whose  advertising  appropriations 
are  less  than  $50,000.  We  know 
that  other  agencies  which  accept 
accounts  smaller  than  this  give 
them  to  the  care  of  the  weaker 
service  men,  or  fail  in  other  ways  to 
care  for  them,  as  every  advertiser 
naturally  wants  his  advertising 
cared  for.  We  are  appreciative  of 
the  fact  that  we  have  been  given  all 
the  time,  thought  and  attention  we 
[51] 


could  possibly  desire  from  the  prin- 
cipals in  your  business.  In  short, 
we  feel  that  our  selection  of  your 
agency  at  the  time  we  adopted 
national  advertising  was  fortunate 
for  us,  and  we  are  thoroughly  satis- 
fied with  the  way  our  advertising 
has  been  conducted  in  the  past  and 
with  the  plans  for  the  future." 

Still  a  n  o  t  h  e  r  advertiser  of 
importance  writes: 

"I  am  more  than  pleased  with 
the  re  s  u  1 1  s  obtained  through 
national  advertising  since  you  have 
been  handling  our  account.  When 
we  first  started  with  you,  our 
appropriation  for  advertising  was 
extremely  small.  We  attribute 
our  success  to  the  judicious  use  you 
made  of  this  small  appropriation. 
I  like  the  broad  view  you  take  of 
the  situation.  You  are  truly 
national  in  scope.  The  goal  you 
set  is  a  spur  to  the  whole  organiza- 

[52] 


tion  of  any  business.  It  is  a 
pleasure  to  work  with  such  logical, 
sound  thinkers  and  doers  as  you 
have  shown  yourselves  to  be." 

Still  another  client,  not  included 
among  those  quoted  above,  spent 
$80,000  through  two  different 
advertising  agencies  before  making 
a  connection  with  us.  His  sales 
were  very  unsatisfactory.  We 
advised  an  expenditure  of  only  a 
few  hundred  dollars  monthly  to 
begin,  because  we  felt  that  there 
was  an  element  of  time  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  his  product,  which  no 
amount  of  money  could  break 
down  very  fast.  This  client  came 
to  us  six  years  ago.  Today  his 
appropriation  is  several  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  dollars  yearly;  his 
product  is  nationally  known;  his 
business  is  quite  large  and  very 
profitable.  This  is  a  typical  case, 
[53] 


illustrating  the  way  our  business 
has  been  built. 

THE    ONE    GREAT    ESSENTIAL- 
CONFIDENCE 

The  relationship  which  must  be 
maintained  between  an  advertiser 
and  an  advertising  agency,  differs 
in  many  essential  respects  from 
any  other  relationship  in  business. 
It  combines  some  of  the  confiden- 
tial relationships  which  an  attor- 
ney must  maintain,  with  a  great 
many  of  the  more  common  business 
relationships. 

The  one  great  essential  to  suc- 
cess on  both  sides,  however,  is 
mutual  confidence.  The  advertiser 
must  have  confidence  in  the  integ- 
rity, business  judgment  and  pro- 
fessional skill  of  his  advertising 
agent.  The  advertising  agent  must 
be  able  to  feel  that  the  advertiser 
respects   the   position   occupied  in 

[54] 


modern  advertising  by  the  adver- 
tising agent. 

There  are  advertising  agents  in 
whom  no  manufacturer  is  justified 
in  reposing  confidence.  They  are 
probably  no  more  numerous  than 
are  insincere  and  unworthy  manu- 
facturers.    But  they  do  exist. 

Similarly,  there  are  manufac- 
turers who,  because  of  congenital 
inability  to  see  any  one's  side  of  a 
business  proposition  except  their 
own,  are  unprofitable  clients  for 
any  advertising  agency. 

The  development  of  the  mutu- 
ally agreeable  relationship  which 
exists  between  the  J.  H.  Cross 
Company  and  its  present  clients  is 
largely  based  upon  the  character 
of  the  individuals  composing  our 
organization,  as  related  to  the 
character  and  needs  of  the  busi- 
nesses we  serve.  There  are  places 
where  we  fit  into  a  business  better 
[55] 


than  any  other  agency  we  know  of ; 
there  are  places  where  we  do  not 
fit  in  at  all.  It  has  been  our  good 
fortune,  generally,  in  the  past,  to 
discover  our  inaptitude  in  a  given 
relationship  a  good  deal  quicker 
than  most  prospective  clients  dis- 
cover it.  Hence  it  is  never  the 
lot  of  a  business  man  who  calls  us 
into  consultation  with  a  view  to  a 
possible  relationship  to  expose  him- 
self to  too-persistent  or  disagree- 
able solicitation. 

And  we  are  always  glad  to  lay 
all  our  abilities  and  achievements 
clearly  before  any  manufacturer, 
without  expense  or  obligation  on 
his  part,  and  with  full  appreciation 
of  the  fact  that  only  the  clearest 
mutual  understanding  of  the  situa- 
tion will  benefit  either  of  us. 

Every  advertiser  contemplating 
an  agency  connection  will  safe- 
guard himself  against  possible  dis- 
[56] 


appointment  by  judging  every 
agency  he  considers  according  to 
these  points: 

1,  Integrity  of  the  personnel  of 
the  agency, 

2,  Length  of  time  the  agency 
or  individuah  composing  it  have 
been  in  agency  work. 

3,  Completeness  of  recognition, 
(See  page  17.) 

Jh.  Experience  of  the  agency  in 
handling  a  commodity  of  similar 
character. 

5,  Size  of  agency. 

6,  What  selling  or  merchandis- 
ing plans  has  the  agency  originated 
for  its  clients  as  opposed  to  busi- 
ness which  is  merely  ''placed"? 

7,  What  experience  in  selling 
have  the  agency  members  had? 

8,  Does  the  agency  take  com- 
peting accounts? 

9,  Do  the  agency's  clients  show 
healthy  growth  as  advertiser^? 

[57] 


10,  Do  the  agency  representa- 
tives show  merchandising  knowl- 
edge or  are  they  merely  ''solici- 
tors''? 

11.  Has  the  agency  one  or  more 
very  large  accounts  which  domi- 
nate it,  and  which  might  make  it 
difficult  for  a  new  advertiser  to  se- 
cure full  measure  of  attention? 

12,  Is  the  agency  well  organ- 
ized? Has  it  experts  in  charge  of 
plans,  copy,  art,  space  buying, 
preparation  of  trade  lierature? 

13.  If  your  field  is  difficult,  has 
the  agency  any  men  who  know 
merchandising  conditions  in  that 
field? 

H.  Considering  that  agency 
service  is  no  stronger  than  the  in- 
dividual delivering  it,  would  the 
heads  of  the  agency  or  members  of 
the  firm  handle  your  account? 


[58] 


